How Eugene Delgaudio Killed A "Zombie" In Sterling, Va.

Thank you to Loudoun County General Services

Loudoun has a new county attorney and new head of General Services. So as supervisor, I asked the board to encourage a new look at an abandoned house on North Brandon. The house had been abandoned since 1985 and was falling apart in every manner.

At my urging the county passed a building maintainence standard and I asked the board of supervisors to use that standard and other standards to declare this private home on North Brandon in Sterling as abandoned so that the county could remove the dangerous structure on the property.

The county did actually do that some weeks ago and at a recent crime meeting conducted by the Sheriff's office there was a presentation and celebration that this had been accomplished.

The abandoned house (also known as a "zombie house" -- see below) on North Brandon is now an empty lot.

Gentleman Ghoul Halloween

Realtors Call Them "Zombie Houses"
Delgaudio Keeps Eye on Zombies

Quoting Moneyline: "Two growing trends in the U.S. housing market are "vampire" foreclosures, in which the bank has seized a property but the previous owners continue to live there, and "zombie" foreclosures, in which the owners have abandoned the property but still own the title, according to RealtyTrac.

The online foreclosure marketplace said the two phenomena are "monsters threatening the housing recovery."

Of the two, zombie homes are the more unsightly, RealtyTrac said. "Often these homes are more obviously distressed, falling into disrepair with no one to perform regular maintenance and upkeep. As such, they often represent a threat to the quality of the surrounding neighborhood, dragging down home values. (unquote)

In Sterling, it is my practice to contact the lenders through the county and to monitor carefully the "abandoned" houses where there are residents based on neighbors reports and my own observations.

Zombie Shuffling